The weekend took us on a long drive to a suburb far away. It’s not something I’m too crazy about, chasing food to the ends of the earth but sadly, we can’t find anything better in the ‘hood. Well, okay, there is a chain nearby but I mean, room temperature dimsum – seriously?!

Our ancestors would be horrified! The taste too is, well, not quite up to our standard at all, I’m afraid, though you prolly couldn’t tell from the long lines outside every weekend. Then again, that’s why we’re the picky eaters while others are, well, not!

For these very reasons, we’ve had to get our butts out the house early Sunday morning and venture into unfamiliar territory. That’s not to say the lines ain’t long there but at least they’re justified. You know you’re getting steaming hot dimsum and your tastebuds are gonna go giddy in anticipation. That’s what we’re paying for.

At this point, I have to confess we’re not real adventure seekers when it comes to dimsum. Better stick with what we know and love; in other words, go with the standard fare and go easy on the fancy variations they introduce every so often.

This time, I happened to be standing in line just outside a side door where the servers were bringing out tray after tray of dimsum from the kitchen. Hungry and impatient, I eyed every tray with interest. There are many varieties I know I wouldn’t eat but then my eyes fell on something very interesting, something I’m sure I would like.

Can you guess which one it was? No, not the sesame balls (top) or the stir-fried radish cake (right) though they were both good. It was the deep-fried spring rolls that attracted my attention.

I suppose I should call them egg rolls because that’s literally what they are – 3 types of eggs (hard-boiled, century and salted egg yolk) occupying 3 of the 4 quadrants. The idea itself is genius but eating it without breaking the roll apart was quite a challenge for me.

It’s too big of a fit for one mouthful and I had to bite into it which meant not getting the taste of the combined flavors and textures all at once. Which I think is a shame. But still, just because I chose not to embarrass myself by cramming the whole roll into my mouth doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy eating this hohoho. This was so delicious!

Remember how surprised I was to discover I had bird’s eye chilies growing in my garden and what a shame it was that they were green, not red? Well, imagine my surprise (again!) when I noticed this. Yes, they turned red. Now take a closer look! Do you see what I see?

Well, I see a pair of chilies dancing… the waltz, it looks like. What’s even more interesting is if you look just a little to the back there, there seems to be another chili that looks like it’s bending itself into a right angle? Hmmm!

Here’s another shot from a different angle. That right angle is so distinct and prominent I honestly don’t know what to make of it.

The only logical explanation I can think of right now straight out of my Biology textbook in high school is that they’re bending in the direction of the sun. Which is what plants are known to do in an attempt to get more sun. What’s strange though is that this is an open area where there’s no shade to block the sun. So I’m not really sure.

My other question is, of course, why this almost perfect right angle posture seems to be apparent only in just this one chili plant and not the rest. Could this be due to an abnormal DNA? And I don’t mean this in a negative way because I think this right angled chili is both unique and pretty. Any experts out there who might have the answer to this?

When I order a cup of coffee, it usually comes with a lid. They don’t ask if your order is “for here or to go”. They simply slap on the plastic lid. When I get to my table, I pop the lid off to let the coffee cool down while I eat. This is pretty much my routine and quite frankly, I never thought much about it…

… until earlier this year when it struck me that the lid serves absolutely no purpose except to cover the cup for my walk from the counter to the table. After I pop it off, it sits there, brand new, and does nothing until I’m done and then it gets dumped in the trash with the paper cup and everything else. Which begs the question: why do I even need a plastic lid in the first place?

So now I tell them: No lid, please.

Aah, that’s better!

Granted it’s just one little lid but it’s going straight into that ocean of plastic waste that’s polluting our environment and making our climate go crazy. Which, in the long run, is going to affect every single one of us and generations to come. So if I don’t need the lid, I’m going to tell them no, or pop it off right there and give it back. Simple!

Those stifling heatwaves, devastating storms, prolonged droughts and massive floods that’s going on all over the place sound really scary. And while some folks think it all “just happened to be worse this year”, in reality, it’s no coincidence.

The planet is getting way hotter than ever; the winds, rains and storms are getting much fiercer and the destruction and loss of life and limb is becoming impossible to ignore. And it’s all because our climate is changing. In a really bad way! So that means we really have to get off our butts and start doing something.

So when I was ordering a hamburger (for somebody, not for me) and saw this sign at McD’s recently, it made me smile (the sign, not the hamburger lol). Single-use straws are as harmful as single-use plastic bags although as far as I’m concerned, no plastic bag is ever single use. I recycle them by using them to line my trash bin.

Those of us who’ve switched to recyclable bags for our groceries/shopping and our own containers for food takeout, and who’re saying no to straws, lids, etc should pat ourselves on the back. Not that we’re heroes or anything but at the rate climate change is happening, we really need to get off our butts and do something. Well, we got to start somewhere and every little bit helps. So join in and do your bit. Our planet (and future generations) will thank you. Cheers.

I’ve been hankering after that siu yoke (crispy skin roasted pork) ever since our dinner at that obscure restaurant in the swanky part of town whose siu yoke was all sold out for the day. Now one thing’s for sure. Nothing and no one stands in the way of me and my siu yoke, okay? Got it? 알았어요? Hence as soon as I arrived at our weekend haunt, I ordered this.

Ah yes, wantan noodles with siu yoke! Finally!

The “uncle” (commonly used to refer to older men) who runs this joint always makes sure my siu yoke is extra lean lol. The older folks especially swear that siu yoke is not the same without that layer of fat. But I jokingly remind him anyways, and he says “but of course, if I give you the fat, you’ll just cut it out and leave it behind, what’s the point in that?” Can’t argue with that. The man makes perfect sense.

Since the early days when he started noticing us there almost every weekend, he would come to our table whenever he could get away from the kitchen and personally take our orders. He is so customer-friendly and attentive I’m pretty sure he belongs in a world with a different number lol.

Look at how many pieces of siu yoke he gave me and how lean it is. Apparently his son roasts all the meat at the shop itself. That’s some mean crispy skin, I tell ya.

Everything here is perfection including the wantan (little meat dumplings) except I keep forgetting to get him to “chop up those tree trunks”.

So if you’re planning to try wantan noodles (and I hope you do), here are some quick tips for you. Wantan noodles are thin egg noodles traditionally served with char siu (barbecue pork). These days, you have the option of ordering it with the roast meat of your choice – either char siu, siu yoke or roast duck, or combinations thereof.

You can have the wantan noodles with soup or dry (mixed in flavored soy sauce). The dry version comes with the wantans in a separate bowl of the same soup the noodles come in if you order the soup version. Hope this makes sense ;).

Some days the heat and humidity gets to me so much that I just want to get drunk on water and have nothing to do with food. But eat, I must! but to save myself the trouble of assembling a sandwich, I thought I’d take the easy way and go carb-less instead. Not that I’m some health freak. Not because I even believe in cutting out carbs. But out of plain old laziness.

Thrilled that I’d come up with such a brilliant idea, I danced downstairs and peeked in the fridge. Saw a tall glass of fruit juice and drank it between popping almonds and cashews. Spied a banana lying around and ate it. Dug around and found an avocado, ate half and donated the other half to an unworthy cause. And that’s it, I decided to call it a meal.

Cynical me was laughing inside as I started upstairs wondering how long this so-called meal would last me. Pretty soon, I got engrossed in work and apparently 3 hours had slipped by unnoticed when I first heard my tummy growling. Thing is when you’re busy, you don’t hear these things. But the minute you slam on the brakes, bam!

… it jolts your brains into the sudden realization that your tummy’s been grinding on air. And by now, what must’ve started as a subtle throbbing in your temples is beginning to resemble the pounding of a drum. Yup, I know only too well the signs of an upcoming migraine.

Reluctantly I dragged myself downstairs – again – in search of food. Dang! Rummaging around for food is not something I relish, to be honest. I’m not normally a snacker so it’s hard to think of what to eat. If I could avoid it altogether, I wouldn’t even eat. But I didn’t have a choice. So suffer me some oatmeal, it is! And some watermelon I found in the fridge.

Up the stairs I skipped, happy in the knowledge that having fueled my tummy, I could now jump back to work. I had no idea how much time had gone by but heck, the pounding in my head had returned with a vengeance. I glanced at the clock and what do you know? It’s been 45 minutes since my oatmeal run.

Arrrgh, this can’t be happening!!! Now I have to find more food!!!

I dragged myself back down to the kitchen again!! Frankly, I had no idea what else to eat. But I had to find a way to stop the drum from turning into a battering ram, fast. Then I thought of the giant bottle of Skippy’s peanut butter from Costco, busted it out and spread it thick on 2 slices of cold bread from the fridge. Aah, that’s much better. Carbs, doncha just lurve ’em?!!

So yeah, I did go carb-less, or try to, sorta but it wasn’t pretty. To save myself the trouble of one meal, I ended up having to eat 3 meals! It wasn’t even like I went completely without. I just traded in the refined carbs for the good carbs and look what happened. I don’t think I was meant to go carb-less. Do you?

I love it when menus come with photos of the food. At least it gives me some idea of what I’m getting. But photos can be misleading at best. A photo could look really good, leading you to false expectations when in reality, the portions will be smaller, items may be missing or replaced with inferior items and the serving nothing like the picture.

Or, and this almost never happens, the photo could look so meh that your eyes lose interest and simply skip over it in pursuit of other better-looking items in the menu. This is why I never thought to order this herbal chicken noodle soup.

While the word herbal typically sends my taste buds into overdrive, there’s always that teeny-tiny sliver of doubt creeping into my final decision. What kind of herbal is this – bitter, sweet, robust? Or fake, as in chucking a few measly bits of herbs into a huge big pot of salt water and passing it off as herbal?

One day, Hip2bDaughter ordered this herbal noodle. I had a sip of the soup and that was it! There was no turning back. This was, hands down, one of the best, if not the best, herbal noodle soup I’ve ever tasted, stat! I rarely use superlatives in my food descriptions because let’s face it, my standards are pretty high lol. But I’m making an exception here.

So how would I describe this bowl of noodles in one word? Well, for someone who loves words as much as I do, there’s simply no boiling any kind of description down to one word. But I’ll try. Dabomb. Genius. Stupendous. Out of this world (oops, there you go, that was 4 words). Well, okay, I tried.

Hmm, how about symphony? This herbal soup is a symphony of sweet, herbal and spicy (I threw in a bunch of raw Vietnamese bird’s eye chilies). There are sticks and slices of herbs, goji berries, a ton of enoki mushrooms and shredded roast chicken with skin on, and as for those skinny wanton noodles, they could be a little more al dente but at this point, who cares?

Well, words are just that – words. If only they could exude smell and taste as well, now wouldn’t that be something? Because I could go on and on if you don’t stop me now hohoho.

So I’m trying to pick out a few more boxes of Kleenex facial tissues. Chronic bulk shopper that I am, even with 7 packets of coffee, 6 body shampoo refill packs, 4 jumbo packs of 2 regular packs of 10 bathroom rolls (’cause 80 rolls is just how I roll lol) and 2 packs of 4 tissue boxes already in my cart, I’m still not done. Need to snag 2 more 4-packs. At least.

You’d think I’m running a freakin’ hotel. That’s right, running a household with 3 kids is like running a hotel. I don’t do last minute. I always buy in bulk and stock up. Because heaven forbid, if the Apocalypse should hit tomorrow and we run out of toilet rolls or peanut butter or batteries or something. So I kinda always wanna be prepared lol.

Back to my story. It’s a very busy day at the store, the Kleenex aisle is a moving river of women and my shopping cart is parked nearby. When I happen to glance over at it, I notice a well-dressed “auntie” in her 40’s peering left and right at the contents of my loaded cart.

So I’m like ??

She: Ah, where (did) you get this?

Me: Over there. (pointing)

She goes over and is back in front of me in seconds.

She: Where? Where? (It’s) not there. Where (did) you find this?

Me: Over there. (swallowing hard and pointing again to the same shelf)

She disappears and reappears several more times, looking more frantic each time. I’m starting to think that she wants me to take her by the hand, lead her to the exact spot and place said tissue boxes into her arms.

Not happening!

Me: Well, it’s there somewhere or maybe they’ve run out.

Okay, “run out” is probably a bad choice of words. She might think I’m asking her to run out of the store (which might not be such a bad idea after all, come to think of it lol!). I’m guilty of flinging phrasal verbs around only to realize, wait a minute, I should probably grade my language, just in case.

Me: Err, maybe they’re out of stock.

She: I want (the) same one like this.

What?!?

She wants the same box design that I have? *sweats* I’m like, well, if you can’t find the same exact design, what’s the big deal? Nothing special about these boxes – same price, same size – and they’re just tissues which you use once and throw away. Just pick something else and move on with life. Gah!

Guess what? She reappears, this time waving her cellphone. I’m like, NOW WHAT?

She: I take photo, okay? (pointing to my tissue pack)

Lololol this woman is something else. But I’m a nice person.

Me: Sure. (holding up the pack for her)

Then she’s gone, whew! For good, I hope. But no, she’s back and asking if she can borrow my tissue pack so she can go show it to the staff. What?! She can’t be serious! My parking ticket is expiring soon and I ain’t paying for another hour of parking just to entertain her needless pursuit.

Me: Look, lady, I don’t have time for this. I can’t be standing here all day. I have to go.

I start pushing my cart and walking away. You know, it’d be nice if people would realize when they’re stretching the limits on other people’s time. And like I always say, throwing in a thank-you and/or sorry is not only the polite thing to do but it’d be really nice. Just sayin’.

Weekend dinners can be exciting especially when you don’t know where you’re going and the anticipation is driving you crazy. Seems like we’ve been speeding along for miles before entering a dungeon of a parking lot in a not-so-happening part of the swanky part of town. Up and down elevators, escalators and flights of stairs. Traversing a mall indoors and out. What a way to work up an appetite!

Finally, we arrive at an unfamiliar but highly popular restaurant, by the looks of it. Don’t ask me where we are, I honestly haven’t the foggiest. But who cares? So long as there’s good food to be had at the end of the obstacle course. Because truly good food is so very hard to find these days.

Apparently the specialty here is their siu yoke (barbecued pork with crispy skin on) so we’ve come to judge for ourselves. We’re there so early, around 6pm, and already their siu yoke is sold out for the day. Bummer.

So we have to make do with their char siu (barbecued pork) and roast duck which come with the two customary sauces – plum and chili. What I like about their char siu is that it isn’t overly caramelized and every piece is entirely edible. The roast duck too is meaty without being tough. So far so good!

We also order what is Szechuan chicken to me (but they call it by a different name) which is chicken meat stir-fried with dried chilies, cashew nuts and onions. Oh man, the nostalgia! This is one of the first Chinese dishes I ever taught myself to cook back in college and I haven’t cooked or eaten this in ages.

We order the sweet and spicy Thai-style tofu because passion fruit sauce sounds too exotic to be ignored. And we’re spot on, this is indeed delicious.

And to round things up with a perennial favorite of ours, a simple kailan (Chinese kale) stir-fry topped with garlic oil.

So there you go, a delicious dinner for 5 with 4 bowls of rice to share and there’s always that last bit of rice left that gets passed round and round until one of us eventually settles so as not to waste food.

The most endearing thing about this restaurant is that each dish comes with a serving spoon. Which means if you’re eating with outsiders, you’re not inadvertently signing yourself up for one of those dreaded saliva swapping deals.

Twas a Sunday morning after a quick errand that we went in search of an early lunch. At 9:30 in the morning! What are you talking about? you ask, shouldn’t that be breakfast? Well, we’re known to do crazy stuff like this *shrugs*. Our 7.00am breakfast had long been digested by then and since we were out early, why not have lunch?

Long story short, we drove to 2 different eateries (an Indian and a Chinese eatery) but couldn’t find a parking spot at either of them. Well, such is life in the city where parking has become a headache even on a hazy, lazy Sunday morning! Bah humbug!

Finally, we went to a third one – another of our favorite Indian eateries. Soon as I turned the corner, we all held our collective breaths. Nyet, it didn’t look like there was any parking spot left but! wait a minute, what have we here?!! Some guy was just driving off! YES!

After our needless 1.5-hour tour of 3 suburbs, we couldn’t wait to chow down. The place was jam-packed and we feared there was no way we’d find a table but! wait a minute, what have we here?!! Every table was occupied save one last empty table waiting for us! YES!

By now, I was all gungho and adventurous and ready to eat a horse. Everyone else ordered the standard stuff. Me? I had to be different and went for something I’ve only eaten once before in my life, something I have very misty memories of. Hello again, Briyani!

Tick tock tick tock. Briyani was the first to arrive along with Curry and Pickles and a long glass of iced coffee. Well, let me just say this, if anyone of us had been wearing socks (err, *looks at feet* sockless in sports shoes, oh well), that aroma would’ve knocked ’em socks right off!

It’s a little deceiving because it looks like only rice and a few cashews and green chilies. But I’ll tell you now, don’t ever judge Briyani by her looks alone. Her beauty is skin deep ’cause hiding underneath that innocent saffron-colored basmati rice was a meaty chicken leg and a whole hard-boiled egg.

The rice was very spicy even before the curry was added and the chicken was tasty on its own. That’s why I love Indian food. Those incredible spices and the intensity of those flavors just take over all your senses and leave your head spinning.

Being the generous person that I am, I let everyone have a taste (no way I could’ve finished that serving). Big mistake! Once they were done gobbling their boring standard stuff, they all started diving into my claypot for seconds. What the heck!! Shoo! Get off my briyani before I drill holes in your hands with my fork!! I’m serious. Go away!

Growing up, I was trained at the prestigious Academy of Chili Kungfu high up in a hill above the city. Never mind which hill, just know that I lived and trained there for many years under the tutelage of the best fire-breathing chili gurus (aka my family elders). There I learned to eat and enjoy spicy food, growing from strength to strength and gradually becoming a guru myself (to my kids, that is).

So yeah, we’re a family of chili chompers. I eat chilies with everything. Even my kids have graduated to chomping on raw bird’s eye chilies (notorious for their killer heat) without batting an eyelid since their early teens. So then, how do you think I felt when I recently noticed this in my garden?

Don’t look at me. I swear I don’t have the green thumbs for this. But apparently my Garden Elf has decided to surprise me with this prolific gift 😉 . Aren’t these the most beautiful little things you’ve seen? I don’t even mind that they’re green though I’m partial to the red ones simply because of their bright color. I’m shallow like that 😆 .

And now I’ll let you guys in on a little secret. The next time you’re having the sniffles and you’re looking for a way to arrest those a-chhoo’s and stop that drip, drip, drip, forget the flu meds.

Have some bird’s eye chilies instead. They’re packed with Vitamin C to kill those nasty sniffles dead in their tracks. This is from my own experience. I don’t know if it’ll work on everyone but I’d say it’s worth a try. Just be sure you have a fire extinguisher nearby. And don’t say you haven’t been warned!